Gave my zills a nice cleaning for tonight's performance. For those who haven't tried polishing their brass zills, it's so fast, cheap, and easy. Are you ready to write all this down?
1) Mix lemon juice with either salt or baking soda to make a paste.
2) Start scrubbing.
What could be easier?
Actually, to make it even easier, I leave the next zill to be cleaned submerged in a little dish of lemon juice. That can take off the worst of the tarnish without even needing to do anything.
On some online advice, I rubbed a very light layer of olive oil onto the brass when I was done, as a preventive layer from further tarnishing. I'll let you know if it helps (I had to wipe so much off to make sure that it would not leave an oil stain on my costumes that I'm not sure if it will).
August 6, 2011
Set List Drama and Dilemmas
Ah, the Making of the Set List! A task fraught with joys and terror. So many songs that I love... but will the audience? Will the restaurant owner? Can I do it justice? Have I already done it to death? Then there's trying to pick enough songs that appeal to my aesthetics while trying to keep enough general pop songs to please everyone, and add in the pressure of the impending performance, and the time crunch on rehearsal time. Let's not even start on shopping through I-Tunes. What is a dancer to do?!
Here are a few tips I've found to make the task a bit more manageable:
Set Framework
Having a basic method to the madness helps me. I keep the general American cabaret set format in mind. I do an entrance piece (complete with dramatic intro section that I let play before entering). I like to have my entrance more or less planned out, so I go to old favorites for this that I know well. Then, I like to indulge myself with a "Me" song that I love so I can take a moment to settle in and enjoy the music. Then, I bring the energy back up with an "everybody dance" song, something fun and easy to improv to. A drum solo or something percussive comes next, and then a finale piece. Since the audience best remembers the entrance and exit, I try to leave on an upbeat but dramatic note, so I usually go to a pop song with some passion. Somewhere in there is a prop piece--usually my solo piece (sword, tray, veil) or dancing song (cane, rope). Of course, I may switch things around, but at least I have a general idea of what to plug in where.
Preparing
I have attempted to alleviate the time-pressure problem by creating several sets in advance and dancing to them occasionally. This is far from a perfect solution. I inevitably end up changing half the set at the last moment anyway as the songs I loved to dance to last month may not move me this month. But, at least it gives me a foundation to build on.
Sorting songs
Any time I input a new song in I-Tunes, I make sure that its genre is set to "Belly Dance" instead of I-Tune's generic "World". Then, I can listen to my entire belly dance genre while driving, cleaning, etc. and familiarize myself with my collection.
Play Lists
Since I also enjoy dancing to non-belly dance songs, I have set up a Play List of "Dance" for the same reason as above ( I attempted in the past to make play lists like "Dance-Fast" or "Dance-Traditional", but it was too cumbersome to keep them updated.).
Rating my music.
I never remember to remember a song that I've enjoyed. So, I make sure to rate things that I enjoy as soon as I hear them.
Utilizing View Options
If you select "View" in I-Tunes, a list of View Options comes up. I select Rating and Time of a song. Then, if I go into my Dance list or view the Belly Dance genre (Select "All My Music"and then type in "Belly Dance" in the search box), I can then sort by Top Rated to go through the songs that I know I love. Or, if I'm a bit short on a set (say I want a short drum solo), I can sort by Time to find the perfect two minute song.
Here are a few tips I've found to make the task a bit more manageable:
Set Framework
Having a basic method to the madness helps me. I keep the general American cabaret set format in mind. I do an entrance piece (complete with dramatic intro section that I let play before entering). I like to have my entrance more or less planned out, so I go to old favorites for this that I know well. Then, I like to indulge myself with a "Me" song that I love so I can take a moment to settle in and enjoy the music. Then, I bring the energy back up with an "everybody dance" song, something fun and easy to improv to. A drum solo or something percussive comes next, and then a finale piece. Since the audience best remembers the entrance and exit, I try to leave on an upbeat but dramatic note, so I usually go to a pop song with some passion. Somewhere in there is a prop piece--usually my solo piece (sword, tray, veil) or dancing song (cane, rope). Of course, I may switch things around, but at least I have a general idea of what to plug in where.
Preparing
I have attempted to alleviate the time-pressure problem by creating several sets in advance and dancing to them occasionally. This is far from a perfect solution. I inevitably end up changing half the set at the last moment anyway as the songs I loved to dance to last month may not move me this month. But, at least it gives me a foundation to build on.
Sorting songs
Any time I input a new song in I-Tunes, I make sure that its genre is set to "Belly Dance" instead of I-Tune's generic "World". Then, I can listen to my entire belly dance genre while driving, cleaning, etc. and familiarize myself with my collection.
Play Lists
Since I also enjoy dancing to non-belly dance songs, I have set up a Play List of "Dance" for the same reason as above ( I attempted in the past to make play lists like "Dance-Fast" or "Dance-Traditional", but it was too cumbersome to keep them updated.).
Rating my music.
I never remember to remember a song that I've enjoyed. So, I make sure to rate things that I enjoy as soon as I hear them.
Utilizing View Options
If you select "View" in I-Tunes, a list of View Options comes up. I select Rating and Time of a song. Then, if I go into my Dance list or view the Belly Dance genre (Select "All My Music"and then type in "Belly Dance" in the search box), I can then sort by Top Rated to go through the songs that I know I love. Or, if I'm a bit short on a set (say I want a short drum solo), I can sort by Time to find the perfect two minute song.
Adding Comments
I have not done this yet, but it is next on my To-Do list. Select "Comments" under "View Options" and you can add notes to a song, like "Entrance piece" or "Finale" or "Dance Song." My thought is to make notes in songs that I think are great for various parts of a set. I think trying to go through my entire collection is too much to hope for, but at least I could make notes on songs as I create dancing sets.
Well, off to do some minor costume repairs (do they ever end?!) for tonight's performance and the test on how good these new sets are.
Please comment on your favorite ways to put your sets together.
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